Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is chewing out the Agriculture Department for promoting “Meatless Mondays” for their employees, promising to eat more meat to make up the difference — a move PETA says it will counter by taking “informal bets” on when the Republican senator will die.

“Shame USDA. One has to wonder whether the Dept of Ag supports Iowa farmers since it is promoting ‘meatless Monday’ for USDA employees,” Grassley said Wednesday night on Twitter. “I will eat more meat on Monday to compensate for stupid USDA recommendation abt a meatless Monday.”

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals responded Thursday by promising to take “informal bets” on its website about when the 78-year-old Republican “will succumb to a meat-related ailment, such as heart disease, cancer of the colon or prostate, or a stroke.”

“From Sen. Grassley’s reaction, it seems a pretty safe bet that he’s already got high blood pressure,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement to POLITICO. “Were he a physician instead of a politician, his attempt to keep factory-farm funding by promoting meat consumption would constitute malpractice.”

Grassley’s office said the senator was just doing his job.

“The comments from PETA are shameful and way outside the mainstream,” Jill Kozeny, a spokesperson for Grassley, said in a statement. “Sen. Grassley is representing his constituents. He’d like USDA to remember who it’s supposed to work for, too.”

The Agriculture Department — which is supposed to promote agricultural products, including meat — said Wednesday the posting promoting “Meatless Mondays” was made “without proper clearance,” according to The Associated Press.

As part of an internal agency newsletter, employers were given tips on how to reduce the environmental impact while eating at the department’s cafeteria. The department removed the posting after the beef association denounced it in a press release.

PETA said it’s also starting a “Meat-Free Mondays Through Sundays” campaign to highlight the “extreme cruelty to animals inherent in the meat industry” and noted Grassley’s support from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

The head of the beef association denounced “Meatless Monday” as “an animal rights extremist campaign to ultimately end meat consumption” in a statement on the group’s website. After the department made it clear it doesn’t support “Meatless Mondays,” the beef association thanked it for “swift action in pulling this disparaging statement off its website.”

“Meatless Mondays” was started by the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. The campaign aims to reduce meat consumption 15 percent “to improve your personal health and the health of the planet.”